Hound of the Baskervilles Graphic Novel Reborn as Pop-Up Book

When I found out someone had done a Hound of the Baskervilles pop-up book, I had to get one. (A common reaction, as everyone I’ve shown it to has gone out and ordered one for themselves — since I’ve been showing it to other Sherlock Holmes fans.) I thought it would be fun, but I didn’t expect such impressive spreads. (The pop-ups were done by David Hancock.) There are only seven, but they’re well-chosen, from the hound on the moors […]

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The Great British Bump-Off

The Great British Bump-Off is an ideal high concept, and one right up my alley: a murder mystery set during a baking show. And it’s by John Allison, whose Giant Days I loved, and illustrated by his collaborator on that series, Max Sarin. I was trying to read it issue by issue, earlier this year, but there’s so much going on that I couldn’t keep track of the characters, so this collected edition is a much better approach for me. […]

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Superman vs. Meshi Volume 1

In Superman vs. Meshi by Satoshi Miyagawa and Kai Kitago, Superman loves the food in Japanese chain restaurants. He uses his powers to jaunt around the world to get lunch and still get back to work at the Daily Planet an hour later. This is the kind of superhero comic I can get behind! I know the genre exists to fight battles for justice, but sometimes, I get tired of all that punching. If I was a superhero, this is […]

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Murder on the Orient Express: The Graphic Novel

Murder on the Orient Express: The Graphic Novel is a faithful adaptation of the famous Agatha Christie novel, adapted and illustrated by Bob Al-Greene. With one odd exception: Hercule Poirot is completely bald, with an exaggerated mustache that continues into his sideburns. Regardless, it’s an entertaining way to re-experience the story at one’s own pace. The frequent use of full-page horizontal panels captures the claustrophobic feel of the train cars, even when they’re divided into panels to more easily guide […]

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Thinking of You (But Not Like In a Weird Creepy Way)

Thank goodness we still get book collections of webcomics, or I’d never have stumbled across this heart-warming and reassuring collection by Beth Evans. Some might quibble with the term comics as applied to this style, but simplicity can be deceptive. In Thinking of You (But Not Like In a Weird Creepy Way), each panel is a page, and each features the most minimal lump creatures (as seen on the cover). The insight is impressive, however. A simple illustration accompanied by […]

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Science Comics: The Periodic Table of Elements

The Science Comics line continues with The Periodic Table of Elements: Understanding the Building Blocks of Everything, an introduction to the basics of chemistry by Jon Chad. Mel is anxious about her upcoming chemistry test on the elements, because pressure makes her nervous. She dreams herself into the Land of the Elements, where the elements take on the forms of various blobby creatures. Her help is needed to defeat the Elemancer, who wants to destroy the world, and — what […]

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Washington’s Gay General

Two of the biggest trends in graphic novels over the past few years are graphic memoir (biographies and autobiographies in comic format) and non-fiction comics (particularly those about scientific topics or history). I love both, as I find them both educational and a terrific use of the combined textual/visual nature of comics. Nothing gives you a better way of sharing someone’s experience or understanding new material. I thought Washington’s Gay General, by Josh Trujillo and Levi Hastings, was going to […]

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The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Deya Muniz’s The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich is a wonderfully silly romance with plenty of cheese puns. You probably already know from that description whether you’d like it or not, but let me elaborate. Count Camembert has a daughter, but she cannot inherit. So the two of them decide to have her become a man, since she doesn’t want to marry because she doesn’t like men that way. With the aid of beloved servant Feta, the young Count […]

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